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+Steo's okay

Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) Football Club is located in North London. The club is also known as Spurs. Tottenham's home ground is White Hart Lane. The club motto is Audere est Facere (To dare is to do).

Stephen Kelly reports that the knee problem which forced him to withdraw from international duty should not prevent him being available for selection against Birmingham on Saturday.

Steo missed out as the Republic of Ireland under-21s travelled to Israel in a European Championship qualifier and his team certainly missed him - as they fell to a 3-1 defeat on Friday.

"I had to miss out," reflected the defender. "My knee problem flared up a little and it was decided against me going and thought best for me to rest up. I've still been training, but I've been taking it easy and they don't want me to overdo it.

"It was the injury that put me out over Christmas and it has just been a bit niggly in the last few weeks."

"We got beaten 3-1 and I was disappointed not to go, I would loved to have played as captain. It was a difficult game and I've heard they did okay, there were two early goals and that kind of killed the game off."

Steo concedes that, while the Republic have a good group at under-21 level, it does not really have the depth to cope with too many withdrawals.

"When a few players get injured we seem to struggle a bit and that has happened in the last few games. When everybody was together we were unbeaten for 14 games, everyone that plays is a key player and when some drop out it upsets it a bit.

"At the moment it is looking a bit bleak in terms of qualification, we've won only one out of four games. All the games we've lost have been away from home so, if we can reverse the results at home, you never know what will happen."